oh this computer is making me angry! sorry>> k<>> ya<>> it wouldn"t tell me>> so that ending part is suppose to say that i"m reading that book "Obsessed" and it"s sooo good> It by Ted Dekker>> but ya ok i"m gonna get off this computer>

Phone call from Home

I got to talk with my mom and my little brother yesterday! It was great> urgh! (sorry>> my computer is being retarded and making me upset right now because it has gone to this wierd setting that whenever i press the number keys it actaully types !@#$%^&*( instead of one two three four five six seven eight nine!! urgh! and it won"t let me type periods> or other things like aposterphies! Aaron if you read this can you tell me what to do to fix it>> or anyone esle who is reading this and knows how to help me> thank you so much>
So anyways<> It was nice to hear their voices again! and to hear that things are good at home> My mom is enjoying her job yet there are lots of stuff that needs to be organized and set up still>> and now she is once again in charge of people>> which she was trying to get away from but she says it will be alright> Aaron got his jeep working finally so that is a blessing> I"m happy for him> and then mom was telling me that my little sister at bible college is kinda homesick : ( so that is sad but i totally know how she feels> First year away from home meeting new people>> or actually LIVING with new people is a really stretching thing and is hard> It definitly was for me and i even had my older sister with me my first year! But it was great and then D came into the office and me and her put our phone on speaker phone to talk with aaron and then i told him to put his phone on speaker phone and so the four of us talking together over the phone for a few minutes> It was really cool cause we were laughing and just having a good time together even though we are so far away from each other>

Today has been a nice lazy day> i helped with lunch and i gotta go and get supper ready for the guys here> Not very hard to do> just bread and gravy! But we had church this morning and I got to play piano in worship> It was fun> But its way differnet than playing with Rob> I miss playing in church back home> But it was still good> we don"t have any drums>> so pray for someone to learn how to play the jambae! that would be sweet

The pastor had a really good message about really really truly knowing the truth and really studing Gods Word and living in Him and asked us the question<>> no> i don"t really feel like i"m truly rejoicing in the Lord and ya<> Please pray for me as God takes me through this and that i will be dedicated to make the effort to rejoice in Him more>

but ya<> Oh and Car<>

Creche Day!

This morning was my very first time being a teacher in the creche and it was soo great. I did the story about Daniel and the Lions Den and the Zulu teacher there transulated for me. She is a very nice Christian lady and that is soo great. That was weird having a transulator cause it was my first time but it is soo nice to have because I wouldn't be able to get anywhere with the children! And it's not hard at all. It's just kinda is a drag that I can't understand what they say to me or vice versa. I have to learn more Zulu! Praise God they understood the story though. They are from the ages of babies to about 3. So cute. Then we played pin-the-tail-on-the-lion. They liked that. And as you see in the pictures I gave them some Canadian flag stickers and they really liked them and they were learning how to say "Canada".






After lunch we went out and did outreach. We went to this one house who is full of orphans. The aunt and the uncle are caring for about 8-9 children because the parents had died. Oh it was such a blessed time and a very heart touching experience. We brought them lots of new clothes and food and the kids and the older people were so happy and dancing around and being all goofy because they were soo happy for these gifts. Then we started singing and dancing! They were about 15 of us, children, adults and five of us from Melusi. Every got up from sitting and joined in. It was soo cool. Everyone was so happy that they had gotten this things. It was awesome cause even the baba (older man) was singing and clapping away. And they sang so loud. It was just such a new experience because I have never seen a family who has recieved gifts be so happy and celebrate like that over a little bit of food and clothes. It was a priceless moment for sure. And they are such nice people and adorable kids!

Pictures at the Museum

Here we are at the museum's little coffee shop/restarant. We did actually go into the museum.. just to the gift shop there. There was a lot of neat African stuff there. After as we were driving back we saw the skipping boys and their coach practicing so we went to visit them. Oh ya I didn't tell you guys about them yet. Oh man they are soo cute and will have to put a pic up here of them. They do really sweet things with skipping ropes and they are actually going to nationals this Wednesday! Till Saturday. The four boys are Loounga, Seethlay, Paul and Boongani and the couch is Wellington. Only three of them made it to nationals though. But they are all really good! So ya, we went and visited them and then gave them a ride back to their home because they had been practicing for close to three or four hours in the heat and they had to walk all the way back home. Its really really far! It's so crazy. But they are so used to walking all the time and very long distances. Wow we are so blessed to have vehicles!!

Me and Dione : )

Maresa, Valerie and Claudette

The two younger girls are the kids of the cook. They also have two little brothers.
And no they aren't twins, even though they look like it. They are 11 months apart.

Yesterday was so great! Me and D went to town for the whole day! 9 to 4. We walked around everywhere that whole time so we definitely got our workout for the day! And wow it was so hot but the wind was really nice. And really the heat didn't bother me too much, but i think it was because of the wind : ) We got dropped off in town and first we went to this adorable coffee shop! And the lady was so nice. We loved the CD she was playing and she let us take it home and bring it back next time we came! Oh man and the coffee and muffin were so good. It’s filter coffee and I liked it better than perked coffee! Then we walked around to all the cute little different shops here. Wow shopping here is so fun and such nice stuff and so cheap! I bought a sweet fake billabong hat for $4, (yes mom, now you know I have a hat and I will be wearing it) and me and D bought sandals for $4. And the jewelry is so beautiful here! But surprisingly I haven’t bought any yet! That’s pretty good I think, for me anyways.

Oh man and then we were walking down the street and this drunk man came to me and was grabbing my arm and telling me to buy the hat I was looking at because it was a nice one and “it was look good on you.” Oh man he was so drunk and then we just kept walking and he staggered down the street. Crazy man.

Today I also bought a cell phone and the guy there was so nice to us. He gave me a sweet deal. 250 Rand instead of 300 Rand and he gave D a coke and me bottled water AND haha, he gave us each a back pack! And it totally has actual speakers built into it! Oh it’s soo ghetto, I love it. Haha. But the guy took out something.. and so it won’t work. Me and D had a good time laughing about the fact we both were wearing matching backpacks around town. But it was really nice cause then we didn’t have to carry everything we had.

And then we saw a guy holding this snake and we got to touch it. Dione was pretty scared of it and then I asked the guy to put in on the ground and Dione freaked. so he didn’t do it. Oh Dione : )

We went out for lunch at Spur’s. It was very good food, and really great service. It was so nice to finally sit down and rest our feet. Its been so fun being with her and just hanging out again. It was such a great day.


Today was my first church service here and it was really nice. After church we had coffee and then Dione told me this one boy here played the piano as well and so he started playing and then I played and the four of us. (me, D, Daniel and I can't remember the other boy's name) sang for about 45 min in the church. It was really neat how we could all come together and sing even when we had just met.

And now in five minutes we are going to the museum here : ) Should be good! There are five of us girls going.

Oh ya and this is just a random comment but in October there are gonna be two Venasulan girls coming to the mission to help out! I'm excited. They are about 23 I think so close to my age!

Anyways. gotta run... Have a great Sunday!

Lins

Life lived so differently

I cannot believe how blessed you and I are. And on top of that, how we always want more and how we can never just be thankful, truly thankful, for the things we have. You guys, God has given us SOO much! My eyes are watering up as I type this.




Tuesday afternoon a group of us went out in the bakkie (truck) with about 20-30 crates full of half full, overdue, broken yogurts, juices and maas, a mixture of cottage cheese and sourcream. It did not smell to great. We drove out to a part of the township close to here and handed out all this "waste" (as the store calls it and what we would call it too) to many of the families and children who live there. I felt so bad giving them this food because it was soo gross and messy and some of it rotten. But at the same time it felt so good to give it to them because they were soo incredibly deseparate for it! It was soo hard to see. When the kids saw the bakkie coming they started yelling and running towards us shouting "Please! Please! Juice! Juice!" and "Mahyeno! Mahyeno!" (which was the name of the mission but it just changed to Melusi) They would congregate around us in the back of the bakkie and reach out their hands and some had huge smiles on their faces and others had this concerned, desperate look on their faces like they wanted some juice and food soo soo badly. SOO many kids! Everywhere! I never have experienced this before. It was very overwhelming.







Yesterday morning I went with Denise to visit the creches and oh my goodness! I loved the kids! They were soo adorable. Here are some pics of them. Some mornings during the week I will be teaching this kids. Not sure exactly how I'm going to do it because they don't really understand English, only Zulu. haha so ya, I guess the teachers are there too (I think!) and they speak English so hopefully they will transulate for me! Here we visited the school to bring them some food. They were soo cute wanting to help out and carry the crates and ran back to us when the crate was emptied. They were soo excited to see us and grabbed onto my hand and just smiled and laughed and wanting to be held. SOO CUTE!!






Then in the afternoon I went out on the outreach with Dione and some other team members. We hand out parcels of food to certain families and at the same time visit with them and pray with them in their homes. I got to pray for two ladies and it was really neat. They are so thankful and happy that I was here helping the poor and needy. All the way from Canada : ) hehe. They are precious people.





I have never in my life seen such poverty though. Here are some things I saw while I went out and hopefully this will give you a feel for how things are for these people. A chiildren, maybe 2 years old playing in the dirt with a bare bottom. A little boy washing in his home standing in a little tiny basin filled with very little very dirty water. A man about 30-40 years old weeping in front of us and his people as he suffers from great physical pain in his heart. Garbage and glass EVERYWHERE... and little kids not wearing any shoes and walking around everything. Mom's using towels as diapers for there little ones. Soo many kids with ruptures in their stomaches sticking out. This one lady the mission was able to give her a mattress and bedframe and she is 84 years old. And that was the first time she ever slept on a mattress in her life. 84 years of sleeping on the ground. Literally shacks for houses. Made with any they could find. Oh man the list goes on but I just wanted to give you a little taste of how life is for these people. It's so incredibly sad and breaks my heart so much. It's very hard for me to see such poverty. We take for granted sooo many things! Or I know I do anyways!

Here are some pics from the outreach yesterday. One of the 30 families we gave food to.This is one of the little girls who has a huge rupture in her stomach.

Last night I went with Dione to her cell group on this farm with a gorgeous house oh my goodness. So nice. And the people were soo kind and soo nice and really excited to have me here. They are people from the church here I will be going to. (the church is right on the mission here) The mission leader, Peter, is also the pastor. ya, so it was really fun and it is like a half hour drive out of Dundee and so me, D, and Maresa got to lay in the back of this truck with pillows and blankets and relax and talk and watch the African sun go down. Oh it was beautiful.



It's so hot here oh man! Yesterday it was 33 and i'm sure today is hotter. They say it gets the most 36-38.. yikes! and that is everyday until about March!



Oh my! And seeing Dione has been soo incredible amazing!! Wow! It seems soo weird and surreal!! Its crazy that I'm in Africa! with Dione! God is too good : ) The first night I got here to Dundee, Monday, she took me out for supper at the Steak House here. OH it was soo good and she has been such a sweetheart to me! Oh and has helped me soo much to feeling comfortable and settled in. IT's been so funny and it just soo good to laugh with her again and just be with her.



In about an hour we start Kid's Club, called Club5. We are doing a skit out of the book "You Made Me Special" (or something like that) by Max Lucado about the Wemmicks. Remembering that story? IT's a gooder. and then playing some games with them and having snack. Should be good : )



Sorry I havent written on this in a while. But here it finally is : )



Oh ya and I really really have to learn the Zulu language or some of the more important words to get by at least! It's very frustrating! So if you could pray that I catch on fast that would be perfect! Thanks!



Bye bye for now.

Touched By One of God's Children

Today I was greatly touched by one of God's children. Her name is Sarah and I met her at the flea market June took me to this afternoon after a wonderful church service. Sarah was selling these gorgeous skirts from Malayisa and I just feel in love with them and she had a lot of fun making me model all the different skirts in her little shop. haha. anyways, it was fun. I think she put four of them on me : ) As I finally decided which one I wanted I went to take out my money and sadly, I found out that I was short 30 Rand (that is about 5 dollars canadian.. but alot for being Rands) This skirt was 160 Rand and I only had 130 Rand. Before I went to pay her we had gotten into conversation and I told her I was doing mission work in Dundee and she said "Oh you are doing God's work?" and I found out that she as well , was a believer and she was very happy to hear that I was here in SA all the way from Canada. So back to the moment of when I was going to pay for this skirt... I looked through my wallet inside and out trying to find more money but that's all I had. Then Sarah told me, "I will let you take it for 130 Rand and I will pay the extra 30 Rand. Because you are a missionary for the Lord I want to do this for you. " I was soo humbled and didn't know what to say but thank you and God bless you! Then she told me " This is what happens when you do the Lords work. He blesses you." I just stood there for a second and thought about those words. Wow, such a blessing I tell you. Her words so true.

God has been blessing me richly here so far with my time in South Africa and it's only been less than a week. For those of you who dont know.. and I think that is pretty much all of you because I forgot to mention it, but anyways, I don't have to take the bus to Dundee anymore : ) Lynn, a lady who works at Melusi is here in Durban for the weekend because she had to bring a child to the hospital here and so tomorrow she will be taking me back to Dundee! What a huge blessing!
I'm sooo excited about getting to Dundee finally and meeting the team there and seeing DIONE again!! She phoned me the second day I was here to welcome me to South Africa. haha she is too cute. I love her. It was so nice to hear her voice being here in a foreign country.

I am soo blessed to have Dione here with me while I'm here. God is just so great. I have some one I can trust and talk with and share my frustations and uncertainites and questions with and she will understand where I'm coming from. And I know that Dione will listen to me and help me in the best way that she can and I'm ever so grateful for her and her friendship. Plus she is super deadly and a ton of fun so we are gonna have so many great times together. I'm really looking forward to it all. And thanks so much Dione for all the help you have been to me soo far and for your encouragement. You are a huge and wonderful blessing to me. Love ya

Oh ya, and I had my first cup of African coffee. My oh my its delicious! Very nice taste and I'm going to be drinking alot more of it for sure! And it was only about
1$ for a cup : )

As well, today was my first time participating in an African church worship service. It was very different than any Western church I have been to. Even though there were probably only about 75 people in the church when they sang it sounded like 200-300 people! Everyone sang so loud and energetic and with passion. And we sang for about 45 minutes. The pastor was very good and very passionate and loud and spoke a very sound message. And there were many many Amens! being said through out the whole service and message. I did feel out of place there,(because of their style of worshuip) but at the same time very not out of place.. like absolutely no one was in that church was being judging or not really wanting to be there but that everyone there was there because they were passionate and deeply in love with Jesus. It was definitely a challenge to me and the way I worship, and just a challenge to be more free in the way I would like to worship God.

Well today the city will be without power from 6 - 7. Some electricty problems here...i guess they always have this and sometimes they tell the public but other times not. haha some times it's longer than just an hour. Good thing I brought my flashlight : )

That's all for now. Later, Lindsay

My Great Mango Adventure

Today I picked my very first mango fresh off the tree! It was soo exciting. I discovered that we have a mango tree right in our yard! So I spotted a really ripe and fresh one... only thing it was quite a ways up.. so I had some fun getting this mango of mine. It was a little bit of an adventure. First I tried shaking the branches.. didn't work. Then June gave me a broom to try and reach it. It was too short. Then I had this great idea to throw the broom up and try to knock down the mango. Well that didn't work to well because, first I missed the mango completely and second.. the broom was now stuck up in the branches. Then June brought out the ladder. And what a old, rickety, wooden ladder it was. It was a bit scary climbing up but it did the trick. I used another broom-like thing to knock down the mango and then also, I saved the other broom from the tree. What a workout trying to get this thing! But it was a mango and I LOVE mangos and I just had to pick one from a REAL mango tree! So I got down off the ladder and took my mango into the house. I cut it open, very very sadly to find that IT HAD WORMS IN IT!! Oh man! That was sooo gross! And depressing I tell you... but, I did get to atleast try a bit of it because there were some parts where there were no little sick white worms. I made sure of it cause I scanned that piece of mango and broke it all apart to make sure I wasn't about to eat one of them before I stuck it in my mouth. It tasted soo good! It would have been such a perfect one! It tasted so sweet and yummy : ) But ya, at least my great determination to get this mango gave June a bit of humor to her day. haha. Hopefully next time, I will get a mango that is completely worm-free and I will be able to enjoy it alot more!

Today June took me to one of the biggest malls in Durban. Maybe even in South Africa. It was soo big and wow, it was a really nice mall! The fashion here is SOO indentical to Canada. Pretyy much exactly the same. It felt like I was back at home seriously, except that the stores are different stores here. But there was a Billabong store and a Roxy store so that was the same. And they played all the same music and songs you here in Canadian malls and on the radio. And most of the stores are huge! Not like normal mall stores. You can spend so much time in just one store. And it is sooo cheap here! Wow. I love it. haha but don't worry I didn't spend too much. I did buy a skirt and some flipflops and some icecream of course : ) I probably would have bought alot more but I was like k. i'm here for 6 months and I will im sure, pile things up to bring home throughout the months. Anyways, it was a full busy day. We went from 10 to 4. I had a really good time. June is a really nice lady and she is really fun and outgoing and loves fashion (like me), and loves going out for coffee (like me), and loves just getting out and doing things (like me). And she loves the ocean so much and so she took me there yesterday afternoon for hot coco. And she took me to a casino for coffee! haha I thought that was soo funny. We had a good laugh about it. She said they come here alot to hang out. Its not actually right in the casino/gambling section.. it is a cute little coffee shop in the same build as it. It also has a cinema there too, and some candy shops and icecream shops. And then we walked along the beach in the soft sand and I played in the tides as they came up for a while. It was soo relaxing and just such beautiful weather.

Here are some pics from yesterday at the ocean.

I loved watching the surfers.

They looked so cool! June is a surfer! Actually, she is a body boarder. Which is still really cool!

Tomorrow I'm going to church with June, to the Church of the Nazerene. I'm looking forward to going.

Well, it's almost my bed time. Jet lag is getting better.. or so it feels like it right now.. haha, two nights ago I woke up at 2 and coudln't go back to sleep till 5! and then i had to get up at 730. Last night I slept alot better, so i'm hoping tonight will be a really good sleep.

Make a comment if you read this. I'm wondering if people are actually reading it or not....

I hope that all is well for each of you. Nite: )

Lindsay

First Full Day

Today was a great day : ) Ann and Jeremy took me out for lunch overlooking the Indian Ocean. It was soo beautiful looking at the waves and the huge ships over the horizon and watching the sweet surfers and the palm trees and all the different little trinkets and jewelry and people selling things. It reminded me a lot of Mexico. We ate subs and chips (which are fries). And there are many of these people who crave amazing things in the sand. they are soo good. Here is one guy working away. It is normal here for one to take a picture and then give him a little bit of money, so I did. Everything here is soo cheap! Wow, Jeremy bought lunch for three people and it came up to 68 Rand and that is only about 3 dollars!!


Oh ya! And I might get to go body boarding in the ocean on Saturday. There is a lady here named June and she does that and she said she would take me if the weather is good and the water is good. I guess it can get really rough out there, cause there can be a really strong current on this side of Africa so ya, hopefully it is a good day! It is somewhat like surfing.. except you don't stand.. but whatever! it's close!

yes and another rare thing today was that there was a helicopter on the pier. Usaully it's on the other side of the harbour.. so we weren't quite sure it was there at the time.

Here they have car guards. They are people who stay around your vehicle while you are gone, because there is so much theft here. When you get back you usually give them a little tip for their service. They are everything. Downtown, and in the underground shopping mall parking lots. That is different for sure. WEC here has had three cars stolen.


Oh ya, while I was exchanging my money here the power and the phone lines went out in the WHOLE shopping mall. Ann said it was very rare, and that is was the first time it had happened to her. Of course, we were in the bank part of it and so automatically the doors locks and we had to stay in there for a while. Oh ya, and when you want to get into a store someone lets you in, either the people working there... or in the case of getting into the money exchange place, there were guards outside that let you in and as you went in the scanned you up and down with this little stick thingy. Very different for me.

Every where you look there is gates around everything and bars up on the windows and doors. Crime is so huge here due to the years of the apartheid. For those of you who don't know, the apartheid is when there was segragetion of the whites and blacks. That ended only about 20 years ago so the affects of it are still around, but getting better slowly.

Um, they call their traffic lights , robots here. And driving on the other side of the ride is a little trippy. I haven't driven yet but just being a passenger is quite interesting. And when I cross a street I look at the wrong side of when the traffic is coming cause it's opposite! Its' soo wierd!


When I got off the plane in Durban it was instantly humid. and very windy! It's there spring time right now. Jeremy said it's usally not this windy here. And tonight it is quite windy and stormy out. Getting some rain.














Here is Ann and Jeremy. They are super nice and soo welcoming and Jeremy likes to joke around a lot.





um. what esle can i say.. well how bout you guys ask me some questions here and then I will try my best to give you an answer : )

Time for bed! Nite!

Hi guys!! So here i am in Africa! Wow, its such an incredible feeling saying that, or actually it's an incredible feeling BEING here! God is soo wonderful. He is soo good :)

So ya i'm super out of it right now.. i think I ve got about 8 hours of sleep in the last 2 -3 days.. so ya, Im quite disorientated and "slow" right now, haha. But i'm doing great still. Its just super amazing i'm here. Hopefully what I write will make sense. I'm not feeling all that focused right now. I'm so tired that it constantly feels like the ground is moving back and forth and so i feel dizzy lots. that is bad i know.. it's not a very good sign.. but it's really hard to sleep on the plane and at the airports. I got a few hours in at least.

But yes my flights were great. Very good service. I didn't get too lost in all the different airports and I got good seats both the long flights. Aisle seats. So that was a blessing. And the people I sat with were nice too. The first couple, the lady, wanted to support me and she wanted WECs address to mail the money! It was soo encouraging! A stranger wanting to give money! God provides in the most uncommon ways. It is so neat. She was really nice to talk with.

Then the next lady I met on the next flight started up a school for girls in Kenya and did work there for 12 years, if i remember that correctly. So ya! It was neat who God placed on my trip.

Oh I wanted to show you guys my first picture I took in Africa. It is my first African sunrise I get to see : ) It was this morning on the plane. On my 11 hour flight. It was incredible waking up to such a sight and realizing where I was, flying all the way across Africa.

Um.. Oh I can tell you guys about my first African experience here. hahah oh boy, it's quite funny actually. I think anyways. So I got off the plane from London into Johannesburg. I wasn't too sure where to go and I had two hours to get on my next flight. I knew I had to grab my luggage and go through customs again and so I had to find all that stuff.. that took a while.. and then when I finally got my luggage, my next thing to do was get my plane ticket and re-drop off my luggage. So, I started looking when very soon a man came up to me wearing this very bright orange coverall and offered to take my luggage and asked where I needed to go and what to do. So, I told him and he showed me where to go and it was about a good 10-15 minutes and I was soo thankful for him cause it was a bit confusing and i probably would have missed my flight. So after he was done and had brought me to the right line up he said, "So a tip for me please." And I was like, oh.. um, (I didn't think I was going to have to pay him! Cause he was dressed in uniform..so i thought it was his job) So I was like. Oh ya and he asked me for a 20$ US tip. I was thinking, wow that is a large tip! But I didn't know for sure how things worked there so I wasn't sure if I had to pay him or not and if not paying him was the wrong thing to do. So.. I looked around and all I had was 10 pounds. So I gave it to him. The whole time after that and till I got to Durban I was thinking wow i think i got totally ripped off. And of course, when I told the leader here about that he was like "What!? Wow! That was like Christman to him!" hahah oh boy, It's funny cause the leaders say that they would only give 2-5 Rand and I gave 100 Rand! haha so I can see how that was Christmas for him! I just looked like this big white rich girl. haha oh boy.. So ya, I thought that was pretty funny. Here I am trying to look like I'm not a "tourist" and this has to happen to me!

So ya, then the leaders here at WEC South Africa picked me up at the Durban Airport. They are soo nice. There names are Ann and Jeremy and they have two kids, 7 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. They are great.

But ya, I think that is good for right now. I ll definitely let you guys know more :)

Later!

So Many Emotions!!

Wow! The time has actually come now. And tomorrow is going to be a HUGE day for me. It's hard to express how I'm feeling all in one word. So ya, I will just share with you guys a few thoughts I've been having lately.

First, yes, I'm scared. haha Not to the point where I don't wanna go, I DO wanna go! It's been my dream for so long! But just that there are so many uncertainties that I'm facing in the next couple of months. And changes. And I know that they will not be small changes. But I guess that what would life be without uncertainities right? It would be rather boring for sure. There is no adventure and excitement when you know what God is going to do in your life and what He is going to bring to it. But at the same time, I wondering SO much what its gonna be like! And how I will do over there and if I will like it! I sure hope so and I'm really believing I will but you just never know. I know it's just my fears right now that are keeping me from knowing that it will be super amazing : ) Stupid fears! But like that saying goes "If God brings you to it, God will bring you through it" No matter how many challenges and trials and frustations, He will bring me through it and with many many blessing along the way.

I realize that South Africa can be a dangerous place as well. Now that I've signed up to go and bought my plane ticket the crazy scary stories and facts come out! haha God can be funny. haha no, but I know that God will be my great Protector and Shield from harm and so I do not need to fear...(even though I do) It's hard sometimes to control your fears but yes I know deep down the truth of God that He is always there right beside me. And that is quite encouraging. Plus I know that this is God's will for me and so already in my life I've learned that when you are in God's will it is the best place you could ever be, even when there will be great struggles and challenges.

So I found a spider in my bed this morning. A big black one. That was pretty scarring. And once again, God has a sense of humor cause I just sensed He is preparing me for bigger, quite bigger, ugly spiders. God, just please don't let one crawl into bed with me!

And of course, it's super hard leaving my family. I've really grown a lot closer to my family in the last couple of years and it's priceless. I appreciate them soo much more for who each of them are and I am just realizing that I really really love my family and that they are indeed the most important people to me.

I'm soo excited for my little sister, Tiffany, going to Nipawin Bible College. I'm soo excited for you Tiff! It will be sooo amazing, You will LOVE it. And my little bro wanting to be an electrican : ) I'm so proud of him and how godly of a guy he is and is becoming. And Hil, how beautiful and strong she is and how I just have fun hanging out with her being retarded together. lol. And my mom, who has loved me and supported me and been so patience with me. And for how beautiful she is, and her beautiful heart of gold. I love you guys tons and I will miss you so much.

On the flipside, I'm going to AFRICA!! : ) How awesome is that? Like Aaron said "It's a sweet story to tell all my friends that my big sister is going to Africa. It sounds so safari'ish." It thought that was soo cute. haha Aaron, I love having you as my little brother. I'm super excited for all the new experiences I will get to do like hold baby lion cubs, and hand out food to the poor (I have wanted to do that ever since I was a kid!), and learn (hopefully) a new language, and play with and hug and hold the most adorable looking kids in the world!!! Oh man! God is sooo goood!! I just get to experience a whole different world over there. Which is both an exciting and a little bit of a nervous thought too : )

So ya, I guess that is a little bit and mostly how I have been feeling lately and right now, the night before I header.

Not looking too forward to the (in total) 32 hours of travelling, flying time and layovers. But I'm sure God will have blessings and surprises for me along the way : )

God bless you all. Thanks soo much for your many prayers guys.

Cultures are soo Crazy!!

sorry guys... just wanted to correct myself and say that my flight to London is only 7 hours. ONLY seven hours! what am i saying?!

I'm doing good here in Hamilton. Getting the very last and final things done for this trip. I'm in a bit of that stressful mode again that i have been in off and on. Getting a little bit more nervous but I know that God will be with me and work things out for me. He always seems to do that for us : )

Today and yesterday we have been learning in class about culture and just how important and significant it is while doing missions, and ya, wow, I'm definitely learning tons and ya, I am definitely expecting to be frustrated and confused and discouraged many times! But we were reminded in class that God places those kinds of things in our lives to bring us to totally dependance on Him. I am just blow away by how DIFFERENT other cultures are! It's just soo crazy and even in class i'm like "what?! how can people BE like that!? that is soo wrong! And doesn't make ANY sense!" But we learnt that it's not about being wrong or righton the mission field but just about totally sacrificing what we are so use to and how we are so use to doing things and living life and just accepting their culture and becoming like them and fitting in. It is only when that happens will we be able to effectively reach out to the people around us and share Jesus with them. And really, that makes complete sense. So that would be awesome if you could pray that I would be able to adapt well to the culture and be willing to sacrifice my many different ways of thinking about things and just accept how they do things. Becuase it's going to be a great challenge for sure!

one more week!!!

I leave in exactly 8 days. It's 8:00 pm right now and that is when my flight leaves on Monday the 10th. How exciting! This is crazy! I am not really looking forward to entering into the Toronto airport....but I am excited to leave it and then again.. not soo looking forward to the 9 hour flight I have to London. Once I'm in London it should be pretty cool. I have 11 hours to take in all that I can take in of London in 11 hours. (haha wow, i don't know if that makes much sense.. but whatever... my other half of my brain is three provinces away : ( haha. oh Carley :)
I get to London at 8 in the morning and fly out to Johannesburg at 7 pm. That is a lovely ELEVEN hour flight. From Johannesburg I fly to Durban where the South Africa WEC Headquarters is located. I will get there on the 12th and stay there for a few days, (to recuperate from some of the jetleg and do some more orientation/training which will be more specifically for being in South Africa) till that Sunday. Then I get to take a 4 hour bus-ride from Durban to Dundee. There, hopefully!, Dione will be the one to pick me up at the bus depot!

Travelling alone is definitely going to be interesting and somewhat a little stressful... but I'm not too worried about it yet.. I just have this fear of losing my luggage.. of getting to Durban and realizing my bags have not been with me along the way... But I'm trusting God to work that all out for me. Also trusting Him to work out the details of being the in the airports and getting to the right places and not getting too lost in the big international airports. I'm sure I will be asking lots of people lots of questions!

I just wanted to share with everyone something that God has been teaching me lately. It's such a simple thing but it has just been really important and awe striking to me lately. It's about prayer. I discovered that I had been taking for granted when a prayer request was answered. Not just my own prayer requests, but just any prayer request answered. I wasn't really putting my full faith in that God was the one answering the prayer. I was developing in my head that the need came "just because"... "just because that was how it went" or "just because that is what happens in life" or "just because it was a coincidence" even! It was not encouraging or enhancing my faith and i was kinda getting discouraged. But just this week God spoke to me and has been teaching me that it truly IS Him who is being the Provider and Listener of our prayers. I love how God speaks to me in such simple, not complex ways. I kinda laugh cause I believe that is just how God knows I will best learn and understand the things He wants to teach me. In a simple way, because He knows my brain cannot always comprehend big, deep theological things... haha. Anyways, He has truly humbled (and blessed) me with this thought He has given me.

In Isaiah 66:1-2 God says: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.....Has not my hand made all these things and so they came into being?"

Isaiah 40:21-22a says "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth."

GOD IS IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING! It's that simple! God allows things to happen! He is the One who is soveriegn and gets to decide what happens, whenever. So therefore, answers to someone's prayer is God answering that prayer! It's so very simple : ) God is wanting to provide and supply that certain need to His child and so He allows it to happen.

I just love these verses. They really speak truth about God and I just love how they speak of His great soveriegnity and power over all things. They really put you back in focus in life. Focus you on how life came about and how desperately we need our God!

So ya, it's soo simple but it's soo huge for me lately. I hope I have encouraged some of you with what I have been learning so far.

I just have a little prayer request for you guys... I have not been feeling well.. just started this weekend when I went to Barrie. I am feeling sick with a cold now and I just really would like to be over it soon. Especially before I have to fly out. Thanks guys

Miss you! Let me know how you are doing!!